


The Bet

by orphan_account



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan, The Trials of Apollo - Rick Riordan
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Homophobia, M/M, Shortly after BOO, band au, this is so old srry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-23
Updated: 2017-01-23
Packaged: 2018-09-19 13:16:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,747
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9442316
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Nico is just starting Sophomore year, which he knows could not possibly get any worse. But will a new found friend, Will Solace, give Nico a reason to not give up on the year? Meanwhile, Percy Jackson and Jason Grace make a bet... a rather stupid one at that...





	

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this forever ago, and definitely need to re-edit it. But for now, here it is.

            Nico slouched over his oboe in band class, dutifully bored. It was only the first day of sophomore year, first hour, but he was so very done with everything already. The rest of the class bustled around, reuniting with friends, squealing away on their nearly-pristine instruments that had been abandoned for other summer activities. Nico sat alone in the oboe section, a chair between him and the flutes, a chair between him and the clarinets. The oboe was a really dumb and obnoxious instrument, so he figured it fit him perfectly. That and the fact that no one else wanted to play it.

            After being bumped in the back of the head repeatedly with the person behind him and their brass trombone, Nico was seeing stars and getting angry. He almost turned around, but thankfully their teacher finally stumbled into the room.

            He was on the shorter side, and wore a frayed bow tie along with suspenders. The dress pants that went over the length of his legs didn’t match the brown hiking boots he traced in light rain puddles with. The rest of the class laughed when he entered with his arms full of unsorted papers and a trumpet clenched between just two of his fingers. A drumstick was wedged between his teeth. From the sound of his urgent muffling and glances at the class, he was trying to talk.

            From the back of the room a piercing whistle shut up the bustle and blasting of people and instruments. Will Solace shouted from the percussion section, “WOULD YOU ALL SHUT UP!” He nodded to the teacher with a smile and twirled his drumsticks between his pointer and middle finger. Everyone sat quiet while the teacher shuffled his stuff and tried to stutter out a welcome. Nico rolled his eyes. _Another lame teacher. Great._

            “Um, well, hi everyone. I’m Mr. Heatch. And, um, a special thank you to Mr…..”

            “Solace.”

            “Solace back there on the snare.” Will took a small bow but he looked like he was blushing a little. There was scattered applause but most people just laughed.

            “So, as you’ve probably noticed, I’m your new band teacher. I expect you all practiced over the summer-“ The wave of snickering from everyone, mostly the trombones, made Mr. Heatch stop and give a little disappointed sigh. He shrugged it off and went on with introductions and housekeeping stuff. Nico was pretty much tuning it out, fiddling with the keys and parts of his oboe. A bunch of dumbly repressed giggles rose up from the back of the room, and Mr. Heatch shouted as calmly as he could, “Boys! Would you please stop sticking your hands in each other’s bells?!”

            The class lost it while the trumpets in the back got red faced. Mr. Heatch looked directly at Nico; they were the only two not laughing. “I never thought I’d ever have to say those words in that way,” he murmured to Nico. Nico laughed stupidly and rolled his eyes, hoping that he didn’t let Mr. Heatch believe that he was the nice kid in the class.

            As they were leaving, Nico heard the whispers and murmurs of the excitement filled kids. “Gosh, our new teacher is _so gay,”_  “I wonder who Mr. Heatch’s boyfriend is,” “Dude, you don’t think he’ll _hit on me?”_ Their words dripped with judgment and Nico bolted out of there as quick as possible.

            “Di Angelo, you sweet of Mr. Heatch?” The booming voice was echoed with chuckles. Mat Richards blocked Nico’s path through the wide band doors, his posse lazily following behind him or carelessly packing away their instruments. Nico stared into Mat’s eyes, hoping to convey his fierce anger without words. That, or hoping his eyes would turn into lasers and form two clean holes in the center of Mat’s square head. Mat stepped closer, and Nico felt like he was suffocating under his smug glare. Fortunately, before he had to say anything, the boisterous Mr. Solace wedged his way through their standoff.

            “Hey, Mat! How many children’s dreams did you crush before breakfast? Do they go good with Frootloops?”

            Mat looked at Solace, perturbed, annoyance growing between his dumbly unfocused eyes.

            Will continued after giving Mat a few seconds of thinking time. “I’m betting it was more than seven. No doubt that’s why it’s taking you so long to count.” Some of Mat’s buddies even laughed at that. With Mat’s dismayed expression focused on Will, he locked eyes with Nico. That action said simply, _“Bolt, dude, don’t let him remember he was insulting_ you _in the first place.”_ Nico obeyed that without a problem, but he gave Will a worried glance before he slipped into the throng of oblivious buffoons.

            The rest of the morning went on quite similarly, minus the jock standoff.

            Nico scribbled on his pretest in math, predictably bored.

            Nico read out loud in English, annoyingly bored.

            Nico fiddled with the science goggles in Bio, deathly bored.

            By the time lunch came around, he felt too bored to function. Unfortunately, lunch was a gray slab of mush, paired with mold infested fruit. Nico, of course, was seated alone at one of the tables farthest from the lines and the obnoxious cliques.

            As he was drawing mushed sketches in his whatever-this-is’ layer of breaded slime, he nearly jumped out of his seat when a body threw itself in the seat next to him.

            “Hiya,” Will Solace said, much happier and enthusiastic than Nico had felt in forever. He must have looked surprised, which was no surprise, because Will started laughing as he dug into his much more edible looking lunch. Nico grumbled and mentally jotted a note to bring his own lunch the next day. But at the moment, he had more alerting problems. Specifically the blonde boy that was sitting much too close to him. The events earlier in the day had Nico suspicious of Will’s reason to sit by him. He set his sweaty hands on his thighs and tried to keep his heart from drilling like a chainsaw.

            “Uh… hi.”

            “How’s your day so far?” Nico couldn’t believe that Will said it with genuine interest.

            Nico shrugged. Will clearly took that as a cue to keep talking.

            “So Mr. Heatch is never gonna last.”

            Nico snorted; he thought the same thing from the second that poor guy walked into the band room.

            “Ha, yeah, he’s definitely not prepared to deal with the tubas. Last year they stuffed all the flutes into the bell of one and the concert had to be postponed for a week.”

            Will let out a chuckle that sounded like birds tweeting in spring. “Yeah, ‘Get your hands out of each other’s bell.’ The brass are definitely gonna give him some grief. Well, at least you can blow him away with your mad oboe solos.” Nico couldn’t tell if Will was joking or not. He decided he was and he laughed, a tinge of bitterness tipping off the end. That left an ugly silence in the air. Will looked down at his bagged lunch awkwardly, and Nico realized he wasn’t helping the mood.

            “Look, Will-“ he started, but was cut off.

            “Hey, do you want this other half of my sandwich? The lunches here break like, half of the Health department’s rules about school lunches.” Will pulled apart his sandwich and set the left half onto a napkin and pushed it toward Nico. Nico’s stomach grumbled, but he knew it would be best to decline. No need for Will to think they were actually friends. No need for _Nico_ to think they were friends.

            “Oh, I can’t-“

            “Just take it, please. My mom practically shoved a crap load of pancakes down my throat this morning. I don’t need it. You, on the other hand, are paler than the bathroom walls. When they were new, of course.” He picked the sandwich up from the napkin and set it in Nico’s hands to make it impossible for him to refuse. Nico stuttered on another objection, or a thank you, he couldn’t decide.

            “Hey, uh, thank you for earlier-“

            “Don’t even mention it. Seriously. Any other reasonable person would have done what I did. But we, unfortunately, go to an institution filled to the brim with incapable, judgmental idiots.”

            Nico snorted. “You got that right, Solace.” Nico looked at his sandwich, and took a bite. He wondered if friends shared sandwiches. He figured they did.

 

            Jason Grace studied Nico di Angelo and Will Solace from across the lunch room while Percy Jackson muttered something about basketball through a mouthful of pizza. Jason thought for a while, not even wavering his gaze when his Piper came and sat at their pitifully empty table. The staggered lunch schedule for high school meant that the group was split up, so that most of their friends would gather at another hour. It was only Jason, Percy, and Piper for this group.

            As Jason surveyed his friend and Solace, Piper was intently trying to get his attention but only succeeded when she screeched next to his ear.

            “Argh, Pipes, why’d you have to do that?”

            “You were staring dumbly over at di Angelo for like, five minutes. I got worried.” Jason shrugged and picked at his burger. The question itching in the back of his head was finally released to Piper’s curious gaze.

            “Have you ever thought of Nico and Solace together?”

            Piper looked up, surprised, but curiously glanced over at the table where the two boys were fidgeting. She looked back with a sly grin, and a small nod.

            Percy laughed and they both looked over at him, puzzled.

            “Dude, what are you talking about? Di Angelo’s not-“

            “Yup.”

            “What?”

            “He is.”

            “Oh.”

            They all craned their heads back over to the pair, observing them laughing nervously and looking down at their food.

            They were quiet, Percy looked up at the ceiling, and shook his head.

            “Nah, I can’t see it. Will to…”

            “Joyful?” Piper offered. Percy nodded, “and Nico’s too…”

            “Not?” Jason said. Percy snapped his fingers. “Exactly.”

            “That’s exactly why they’re good together,” Jason and Piper said at the same time, giving Percy questioning faces.

            Percy looked at them quizzically. “Grace, your girlfriend is rubbing off on you.

            “I’d hope so,” Piper retorted, and went back to peeling her piss-colored orange.

            Jason looked at Percy and brought his hands up, something that said, _“Whatever dude.”_

            “Okay,” Jason said. “We’ll see who’s right. I think that they’ll get together before fall break. You don’t think they’ll get together at all, is that correct?” Percy nodded. Jason inclined his chin in response. “Okay then. I take it you’re not afraid to bet on it?” Percy snorted and Jason continued with a crooked grin. “Okay. So, if I’m right, you have to wear a dress to the Fall Fling.” Percy’s eyes widened, green drowning in the expanded white. He gulped, fidgeted with the seam of his shirt, and said nervously, “Okay.” Jason’s grin widened which coincidentally increased Percy’s unease.

            “What about if I’m right?” Percy asked, a righteous gleam building in his eyes. Piper looked like she was near laughter and had to stuff her face before she started snickering. Jason shrugged.

            “You can pick out a punishment for me.” Percy smiled evilly. Jason never thought that was possible.

            “Uh… what are ya thinking about?”

            “If I’m right you have to take the day shift in the dunk tank at Snow Fest.”

            Jason paled. Every year the seniors sponsored the dunk tank at the local winter festival. Because of that, a senior always had to be the one _in_ the dunk tank. The problem was, no one ever volunteered, so the poor soul elected to do it was stuck in the slushy water all day, wearing only the tight school-provided swim suit and the grizzly bear head from the school’s mascot costume. Piper’s eyes widened with concern, but the amusement in her eyes was unmistakable.

            Jason cleared his throat and said hesitantly, “You’re on. But if I get hypothermia you get to keep all my toes that fall off.”

            Percy just smiled. “Deal.”

            “Let’s make it official.”

            “The unbroken vow.”

            The boys locked pinkies across the table.

            Piper rolled her eyes, then authoritatively smacked her hands on the table.

            “Okay, I understand that you two have a manly need to out-bet each other, but isn’t betting on someone’s relationship a little harsh?”

            Jason shrugged while Percy looked at the crust of his pizza guiltily. “Hey,” Jason said pointedly, “your comrades do it all the time,” he whimpered, referencing the clique of well-informed gossipers of Piper’s drama club. “It’s not like we’re _hurting_ them.”

            Piper sighed. “Fine. Have you’re stupid bet. But neither of you are allowed to influence either of those boys in any way. _None._ If I hear you did anything of the sort you both have to take a shift for the dunk tank, regardless who wins.”

            The boys glanced at each other, sighed defeated, and held their pinkies out to Piper.

 

            “You did _WHAT_?!” Annabeth screamed at Percy. He told her about Jason and the bet, which pinched her expression with annoyance and then to anger. “Gods, Percy, you are so _STUPID!”_

            He shifted back and forth on his feet, his pile of books slipping in his sweaty hands. He hated making Annabeth frusterated. She lost all her reasonability when it happened, and mostly took it out on Percy. Not unfairly, of course. It was usually his fault.

            She pursed her lips, looked away from him, and then looked back with plain fury in her eyes, touched with disappointment.

            “Well, I guess I’m gonna have to help you pick out a dress. Not the same as mine, of course. Hey, if you wear one, maybe I don’t have to!”

            Percy was amazed that her stormy mood kaleidoscoped into ecstatic so fast. “Uh, Annabeth, what are you talking about?”

            She scrunched her eyebrows together and gave him her dumbfounded, disappointed look again. “You are totally gonna loose, idiot.”

            “How do you know?” he retorted, more confident than he actually was.

            She tried to throw her hands up exasperatedly, but her stack of books prevent that. “Gods, don’t be a dumb, Percy.” She stormed away with Percy calling after her, hopelessly confused.

 

            The week passed as well as Nico expected, except he found himself actually looking forward to school. He didn’t want to admit it was just because Will had been sitting at his lunch table every day, ignoring the invites from his other blond, tall friends that he met with in most of his classes. Band and lunch were the only times their schedules crossed, but everyone knew that when it came to the cool, funny, popular kids in their grade, Will was one of them.

Mat hadn’t bothered him, only giving him a sneer and then leaving after Will directed him a pointed look. Nico was embarrassed that he’d come to depend on Will to stick up for him. It wasn’t even that Nico couldn’t deal something out to people giving him trouble, it’s just he couldn’t convince them they were wrong. If Nico believed what they said himself, did he have any right to tell them off?

No matter what, however, Will wouldn’t leave him alone. After the third day, Nico tried not speaking a word to him the entire day. Will seemed to know what he was doing, and he filled the silence with useless rambling. Lunch was much more enjoyable, firstly, for the company, and secondly, because Nico now packed his own lunch. Will had a way that made you forget about everything else when you talked to him. And Nico didn’t want to admit how much he loved to hear him talk. Gods, he needed to get his voice fetish under control. 87.996% of his crushes started with someone’s voice.

Then Friday came. Will was in band, punching away on the snare with his pair of gold sticks. Nico was nearly bursting with joyful anxiety for lunch to roll around. But after trudging his way through the stiff classes of the morning, he was greeted with an empty table. He ate his soggy sandwich alone, and glanced around at the wide cafeteria. He couldn’t help but feel that each tables’ bursts of amused laughter were directed at him. “ _Look at that weirdo, sitting alone again. He couldn’t even keep a friend for one_ week,” he imagined they’d say.

Finally he couldn’t take the solitude. He got up from the barren table, threw away his uneaten lunch, and stomped off to the old bathroom. Before he got there, of course, the squeaky speakers released a static-ridden announcement.

“Ehrm… Would… Co…. Angelo…. Port…. Fice…. Itly… Nkyous,” said the scraggly voice of their principal, followed by a sharp squawk of the speaker being turned off. Nico froze in the center of the isles of tables, and he felt the blush creep up his face. He took a deep breath and kept walking, ignoring the few people that cared to stare at him on his way.

The principal’s office was a short ways away from cafeteria, the hallways along the way empty. Nico’s hands were slick with nervousness. The stubborn door was wedged open and he stood in the threshold of the principal’s cubicle.

“Eh… Mr. D?”

He looked up from his papers, his high, rat like voice directing Nico to sit down and his large, watery eyes tinged with sympathy. He picked up a yellow note, which Nico read, and got up without another word. Mr. D said nothing; he simply looked back down at his stack of papers like he had just checked something off his to-do list. After the blow the scrawled words had just given to Nico’s stomach, he was angered at the instructor’s carelessness in such a dire situation. Nevertheless, he kept walking, repressing the dreadful, panicky tears than were thickly rimmed on the edge of his eyelids.

As he was blindly navigating his way through the cluster of offices, Nico felt the air and tears knocked out of him as he collided with another person, a flash of gold and blue met his eyes before they fell together in a heap.

“Seriously, dude?” Nico started. He didn’t even bother to check his feelings before he spoke. He let out all his anxiety, stress, anger, and worry in a low growl that sounded frightening even to him. “Could you possibly not be an idiot for one moment and-“ He fumbled his way up, as did Will Solace.

Nico lost his roll. Will, for one, was still adjusting to the shock of the collision. The red bruise spirally out from his right eye stood out like a beacon on his paled face. The edges bled into purple, edging on black. His normally bright eyes and confident grin were replaced with worried glances, and a guilt, gaping frown. Nico felt the tears that had come loose after the fall dribble down his cheeks but he didn’t care. His friend looked like he went through a war.

“I-hey, uh… what, did… you,” Will put his hands up to pause him, which Nico was grateful for. He couldn’t talk. Not when it felt like the world was sitting on his heart.

“I uh, emergency, gotta-“ Nico fumbled with an explanation. He had to leave. Will would have to be taken care of later, unfortunately.

“Okay, hey, buddy, it’s okay.” Nico had already started walking, but Will followed him with encouraging words that did anything but their purpose. All down the hallway, even to his locker, Will’s solid footsteps and melodic voice were close behind. Nico didn’t have the energy or thought process to question it. He swung his backpack over his shoulder, and when he looked back to Will he saw he had his as well.

Nico took a breath and then looked Will in his deep, concerned blue eyes. “Will, what are you doing?”

“I’m coming with you,” he said simply. The words left no room for protest, so Nico didn’t, although his mind was telling him to.

He stormed down the hallways with Will, now silent, next to him.

The empty hallways and echoing footsteps left little room for conversation unless it was hushed, but Nico had to ask.

“Why are you doing this? _What_ are you doing, as a matter of fact?” he asked, trying to not let the urgency of his worry seep through to his words to Will, who probably cared nothing for his problems. Will looked over at him quizzically, his eye brows scrunched down to form canopies over his big eyes.

“Because you’re my friend, Nico. And obviously you’re not okay right now.”

“But-“

“If you want me to leave, I will, but I also won’t. So if you’re gonna try to talk me out of it, you better keep walking.” Will said it with such assuredly that Nico paused, momentarily stunned.

Then he realized he had stopped and started walking faster, nearly tripping over his feet. As they made their way down the labyrinth of hallways, Nico stole glances over at Will, trying to decipher his reasoning. He couldn’t think of much, other than to believe what Will said, or maybe this was just a big sham to humiliate Nico in the end.

“What happened to your eye?” Nico asked as they were buzzed out of the building. He didn’t know how the administrator ignored Will, but he got through, too.

Will looked down at his feet and fingered his backpack strings uncomfortably.

“Nothing. You have more important things to worry about than my eye.” Nico nodded, although he was concerned, not only for his friend, but for his sister.

Thankfully, she went to a school close to Nico’s, so it was just a short walk away. But that didn’t really matter at the moment. Nico already heard the sirens whizzing east and he directed their path to follow. Will followed, now behind Nico on the spared space of the sidewalk, with a sympathetic look of determination on his angled face. They sped around the streets of the city, pedestrians weaving their way in and out of the boys’ path. The city, normally rampaging with sounds of industry, had a grim hush to it. Everything seemed muted, muddled into a twisted kaleidoscope in Nico’s mind.

“If you don’t mind me asking, where are we going?” Will squeaked, nervousness coloring his voice.

Nico didn’t even want to think about it himself, but he answered. Will deserved that if he was going to tag along the whole time.

            “St. Luke’s Hospital,” he whimpered. The sour taste of ‘hospital’ carried onto his next words. “For my sister.”

 

            They arrived at the hospital not ten minutes later, and Nico guessed that was some kind of record. The attendant eyed them up curiously, as well as the security guard, but the worried sadness of Nico’s voice when he asked for Hazel Levesque must have stripped her mind of her previous premonitions. She led them down the sterilized, blinding white hall without another question. Nico thought that was strange, but he was glad she didn’t inquire about Will. Nico wouldn’t even be able to explain him.

            The room she left them at was completely curtained off. She turned to them, and asked, the snip back in her voice, “Family members only… I take it you’re… both…. Her brothers?” Nico and Will looked at each other, looked back at the lady, and nodded.

            She looked apprehensive, but she just gave a curt nod as went back down the hall, her red curls swishing around her raised chin. Nico couldn’t believe how stupid she was. Will, Nico, and Hazel could pass as siblings about as well a corndog passed as a fruit.

            Nico turned away from the wink Will gave him and wavered in front of the door. Will put a hand on his shoulder which nearly made him jump despite the nervousness overriding his senses.

            “Hey, I can wait out here,” Will said. Nico thought for a while, then shook his head.

            “No. It will look to suspicious. It’s better if… I would like you to come in.”

            Will’s surprise widened eyes held a question but he just nodded and followed Nico through the beige door into the bland room.

            If Hazel wasn’t the center of the room, maybe Nico would have had time to stall by admiring the bleak furniture, maybe by getting used to the dusty, mold smelling air. But that wasn’t the case.

            Hazel laid on a bed, bathed in the pallid artificial light. All the windows were sheathed in curtains, so the lack of sunlight turned her skin a wan brown. She breathed heavily, chattering machines beeped loyally at her side. Her mouth hung open and her eyes drooped, only gray slits. Will hesitated by the door as Nico strode over on his wobbling legs. He felt like he would collapse at any moment. Just the sight of his sister in pain was enough to make him overflow with anger and despair.

            At that moment Hazel’s eyes opened all the way, the sleepiness and effort clear in their droopy lids.

            “Nico?” she puffed out.

            “Hey, Hey, Hazel, it’s me.”

            “What… happened?”

            “I think you had another attack. What do you remember?”

            Hazel puffed. She was awake now, but it didn’t seem like her brain was. “I was at school, I think… no wait… last night…”

            “Hey, it’s okay. You’re gonna be fine.”

            “Where’s my mom?”

            Nico gulped. Hazel always forgot the accident whenever she had a Flash. Nico hated having to retell her every time, to see the ugly sadness bleed into her face. But he had to, otherwise she never remembered anything else.

            “Hazel… a long while ago… you were in an accident. You don’t remember it now, but it was really bad. Your mom, she died. You had a bad brain injury.”

            Hazel paled. The tears built dams in her eyes like they always did. “What… what day is it?”

            “It’s September 3, 2014.”

            The tears spilled down Hazel’s cheeks. Nico could tell she remembered everything again, it was coming back to her like the color in her cheeks. It had been so long since she had an accident, that Nico thought her fainting spells might be gone. But apparently, they weren’t. That was why he panicked so much when he first received the note. But now, he realize, was just like any other time.

            He tore his eyes away from his quietly sobbing sister, and looked down to his hands, folded on top of the stiff sheets. His own tears dribbled down his face but he managed to keep his breathing steady. Nico’s face cooled and he stood up, tucking Hazel’s hair behind her ears and giving her a kiss on the forehead.

            Nico would have forgot Will Solace was in the room if he hadn’t in that moment said in a choppy voice, “I didn’t know you had a sister.”

            Nico turned around, alarmed, and wiped his eyes. “Oh, uh, yeah, half-sister. Our parents…”

            Will put his hands up to stop Nico. “Hey, you don’t need to spill out your life story after a moment like that to a practical stranger.” Will smiled but Nico could tell it was forced.

            Nico looked down at his shoes. “Thank you,” he said in a whisper, but the barren room was silent enough for Will to still here him.

            “It’s no problem, I told you that.”

            “Really, how’d you get the black eye?” Nico blurted before he could stop himself.

            Will looked like he’d been caught in headlights, but before he could say anything, the door opened, smacking him into Nico.

            The attendant peeked her head in, her face drowning under the red curls that framed her pinched face. “Boys, time to leave Hazel to get some rest.”

            Hazel looked up at them, her hand covering her mouth, her other waving them away. The attendant ushered them out, trampling over the room for conversation. Once they were back outside the hospital, Nico looked over at Will pointedly. Will sighed and walked faster until he was ahead of Nico

            Nico jogged forward. “Hey, you’re the one who insisted on coming with me. I want to know what happened to you.”

            Will huffed, and looked guilty down at his neon-green sneakers. “I got into a fight,” he murmured.

            Nico’s eyebrows shot up. “Really?”

            “Yes, really,” Will growled as he continued walking.

            “Whoa, wait, what about? I cannot image you getting into a fight over anything.”

            Will, defeated, paused, and directed Nico to a café on the corner of an intersection. “C’mon. It’s too late to go back to school anyway.”

 

            “You got a black eye-for _me_?” Nico said in awe. Will nodded meekly. They were seated at a tin table inside the cheap little café with untouched hot chocolates in front of them. Will had ordered it with his emergency money, saying his mom wouldn’t care, even after Nico protested Will spending money on him.

            After they sat down, Will narrated what happened. He said that this morning, Mat Richards was prancing all around school. He was being about as inconspicuous as the Trojan horse with his wide strides and booming words. It was after band, just a couple minutes before 3rd hour started. Will was in the hallway when Mat ran down, screaming his proclamations.

            “He called you a faggot,” Will said in a shaky voice. He looked down at his hands but Nico just blinked. It wasn’t anything he hadn’t heard before. “He said a lot of other stuff too. I was just at my locker, and he came up right in my face and…”

            Will played with the puddle of hot chocolate that pooled on the table from the thin, overflowing cups. He looked like he didn’t want to keep going; Nico could tell he was ashamed, but not of what he did. He was ashamed because he was _proud_ of what he did.

            “And, he just, he just crossed about 3000 lines at once and I lost it. I punched him straight in the gut, and he went for my face. He grabbed my hair and smashed my head into the wall after I had another blow at his nose. I kinda blacked out after that, but I remember getting up from the floor surrounded by kids and being led to the nurse’s office.”

            Nico was in shock from Will’s story. He never believed he’d ever have someone who would do _anything_ for him, much less get into a fight. After Will nodded, Nico sat there, stunned. Will coughed. Neither of them really knew what to say after that, but Nico said what was needed, despite the cloud of awkward silence.

            “Will, thank you,” he said, his words purely sincere. “You do not know how much I appreciate what you did. I… I don’t think thank you is enough payment for what you did, it’s definitely not what you deserve. Thank you, and I’m sorry if I wasn’t being openly friendly when all you were trying to do was be my friend.”

            Nico’s voice caught. He had no other words, but he felt like that was enough for now. When Will looked back up, he had his unmistakably gorgeous smile back, along with a glimmer of tears in his eyes.

            “You don’t need to thank me. I’m gonna be sticking around to annoy you a _whole lot more_ now. Well, after my suspension is up.”

            Nico’s eyes bugged out at the new news. “You got _suspended?”_ he said incredulously.

            Will just gave a side grin, making his puffy red eye squish together so it was a harsh blob. “There’s _really_ no point to going back to school now. Where do you live? I’ll walk with you.”

 

 

Thanksgiving rolled around, and the senior class was jittery, racing around setting up the warm, cheap, cheesy decorations for the Fall Fling that night. The whole school was invited, although the senior class sponsored it. Which basically meant they were the set up and cleanup crew.

Nico, who hated the idea of school dances, wanted to do anything but go. But, Will insisted. Will was sadly, very persuasive at getting Nico outside his comfort zone. Nico had agreed to go, but only on the condition that he didn’t have to dress up.

“Aw, no, of course you don’t have to. No one gets dressed up for dances in high school, which you would _know_ if you went to one once and a while-“ Nico rolled his eyes, “-but you can _not_ wear those ratty jeans. I think I have a pair of red tie-dyed ones somewhere…”

Besides _, that_ fashion catastrophe about to happen, another surprising one greeted the boys when they arrived that night.

At the main entrance of the school, the concrete was the platform for many eager students, bouncing around with their friends or dates, dressed up or casually walking in. But the one group that made Nico and Will stop in their tracks was one with Percy Jackson standing in the center, his face a sheen of pink that matched the frilly dress he wore.

They stopped in their tracks, utterly dumbfounded, not sure whether to laugh or call an ambulance. Jason Grace was on the ground, collapsed in a ball at Percy’s feet. Nico didn’t think that was a real good idea; he’d seen Percy in soccer games. But Percy just stood there looking embarrassed with his arms crossed. Annabeth Chase was beaming at his side in a sophisticated suit and a tie that matched Percy’s dress, totally not the attire for a school dance. Nico noticed Jason’s girlfriend, Piper Mclean, shading her face with her hand and snapping pictures with her phone. She wasn’t fairing much better than Jason.

At Nico’s side, Will burst out laughing and fumbled around for _his_ phone. Will looked at him, and Nico found that his laughter was contagious. They both fell to the ground and had to sit on the curb because they were winded from laughing so hard.

Will wiped tears from his eyes and captured a few more pictures with his phone before the quartet went inside. “I’m going to make sure that that gets into the yearbook.”

Nico cackled at his side, clutching his chest because it hurt so much. “The next best thing,” Nico wheezed, “would be Mat Richards in the Winter Fest dunk tank.”


End file.
